Outpost Earth
by BenJMyhn
Summary: Jazz and his crew have to discover info hidden inside the memory banks of a dead Autobot before the Decepticons do. Perceptor brings hybrid to the next level in Autobot and earth technology.
1. Auther's Note

Let me start off by stressing that this is a fanfic story, and I do not own any rights to any part of the Transformers universe. I am not trying to make money with this story. However, if Hasbro, or whoever owns the rights to Transformers, wants to talk, I'm open ;)

I have been a fan of the Transformers since the first episode back in 1984. When the 1986 movie came out on video I rented it and watched it not less than 5 times that night. While I didn't exactly cry when Prime died, I was very moved. And I continued watching the cartoon episodes for years afterward. When Beast wars came out, I watched about a half of an episode, and decided it was stupid and lost interest. After that, several other incarnations of Transformers came and went, all without me even knowing about them.

Anyway, I'm drifting. What I'm trying to say is that this story isn't going to follow the live action movie timeline, or much at all after the original series. The Autobots who survived the 1986 movie will be featured, and unless they were specifically shown to have been killed off in the movie, then they will be around. Which means Jazz is still alive (and a Porsche), however both Ironhide and Ratchet are dead (as are Optimus Prime, Wheeljack, Brawn, and Prowl). And even though he survived the movie, Wheelie will NOT be included.

Actually, no check that. He will be included, but only as a cameo in the first scene.

Galvatron, Cyclonus, and the Quintesans will also be featured. I will also include the allspark and certain things surrounding that.


	2. Chapter 1

The year is 2017, twelve years after the last great cybertronian war, the death of Optimus Prime, and the planet known as Unicron. Though Galvatron is leading them, the Decepticons are on the run, and Rodimus Prime is eager to eradicate them altogether.

The earth is now basically an outpost for the Autobots, staffed by a skeleton crew. The last big Decepticon attack was 2 years ago, and it was coordinated so poorly that the Decepticons lost half their number. One Decepticon was taken out when a human, Silas van Morden, crushed him under his 18-wheeler. That attack left the remaining Decepticons decimated and demoralized, and it gave the Autobots several new recruits.

A woman in her mid 30's with a thin nose ring, and chestnut brown hair with dark ginger highlights stepped out of a store in midtown. She walked down the road a little ways but stopped when she saw an emerald green Kenworth with gold flames on the hood. On the side of the sleeper of the truck was an octagon that looked like it was made out of golden rope surrounding a black background. In the middle of the octagon was a kelly green shamrock, and six stars, three above and three below the shamrock. The woman scowled angrily and crossed the road to give the front tire a good kick.

"I thought I told you I didn't want to see you anymore." She said, perhaps a little too loudly, and she looked around to make sure no one was watching her yell at a truck. The green driver's door opened and she climbed in, closing the door behind her.

"Well?" She demanded, sitting down. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you." A male voice said over the speakers. Equalizer bars on the radio raised and lowered to match his voice.

"Then why are you here?" She asked. "And don't give me some lame excuse about Decepticon activity."

"We got a tip." The voice said. "It could be nothing, but we have to check it out."

"Well, YOU can check anything out you want." She said, stressing 'YOU'. "But you are NOT going to drag my kids into some fantasy non-existent war. The last Decepticon attack was two years ago, and-"

"The last one that was on the news, was two years ago." The voice countered. "I can't tell you how many there have actually been."

"Are you serious?" The woman nearly screamed in anger. "Why can't you tell me? My children are getting involved in a war that was never theirs in the first place, and I deserve to know about it!"

"Long Haul, what's going on? Are you paying attention?" Another voice cut in.

"I'm sorry, Jazz." The first voice said. "I have an unexpected guest."

"Unexpected Guest?" Jazz said over the radio. "Who's that, Sophia?"

"Hi Jazz." The woman, Sophia, said. She almost sounded bored. "Where are my children?"

"Last I knew, they were in school." Jazz said. "We don't have the time, or I'd have Long Haul drive you there. But I am honoring our agreement; they are not with us."

"Happy?" Long Haul asked.

"Ecstatic." Sophia deadpanned.

"Good. Now, please go." Long Haul said.

"Jazz, Blaster here." Another voice came over the radio. "I'm picking up transmissions from an unused radio wave length. There's something weird going on, and it's happening right here."

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Long Haul said.

"What?" Sophia asked as she was about to open the door.

"Can you isolate what they are saying?" Jazz asked.

"I've been following their transmissions for a couple of minutes." Blaster said. "It sounds like U.S. Government officials have a strike team nearby. They are looking for someone whom they believe has a bomb strapped to themselves."

"What, here?" A female voice said. "There's hundreds of humans here!"

"Something's not right." Long Haul said, then to Sophia he said: "Sophie, you gotta get out of here. You gotta get out of here, right now."

"Keep your optics on full." Jazz said. "Decepticons are around. That's who we're here for, but keep that transmission in the background so we don't get in each other's way."

"They've found the bomber." Blaster said.

"Good." Jazz said. "The last thing we need is-"

"He's blowing it! He's Blowing it!" Blaster cut in right before a massive explosion rocked the city block. A fireball ripped through several buildings, sending cars flying, blowing out windows for blocks around. Concrete was cratered and blown apart; Trees were toppled. A high rise building swayed back and forth dangerously. At least one hundred people were within fifty feet of the man when he triggered the bomb. There was no way they lived, and hundreds more were injured from the sheer concussion of the blast, not to mention all the flying debris.

"You all right?" Long Haul asked Sophia. He'd been covered in dust and debris.

"Oh my goodness." She said, stunned. She looked around out the window, and repeated herself.

"Everyone check in." Jazz said.

"Long Haul here. I was near the blast, but I'm all right."

"Blaster here; I'm good."

"Wheelie say, I'm o.k."

"Preceptor, checking in."

"Red Alert, checking in." Said the female voice. "Jazz, we've got to do something to help the survivors."

"The intel was good." Jazz said. "What happened?"

"We can figure that out later." Long Haul said. "Red Alert is right, if we don't step in now, that high rise is going to fall and more people will be hurt."

"All right." Jazz said. "Preceptor, Red Alert, Wheelie, start helping the people. Blaster, contact every fire station, hospital, and ambulance company in a twenty mile radius. Get all of them here, now. Long Haul, you and I are going to sure up that building, so it doesn't come crashing down on anyone."

"Understood." Long Haul said and then to Sophia he said: "Sophie, If you're all right to drive yourself, I have to go."

"Right. Yeah. I'll talk to you later." Sophia said, climbing out of the truck still in a daze. When she was out, Long Haul transformed into his robot form, and, without even a glance in Sophia's direction, ran towards the settling dust and smoke. Sirens rang out all across the city as first responders began racing towards the site of the explosion. Long Haul was still running towards the building when a white Porsche zipped past him. The Porsche jumped into the air, and transformed into a robot. Jazz landed on his feet and ran to a large hole in the wall of the damaged building. But before anything could be done, the remaining support structure of the building blew out, and it began falling to one side.

"Clear out! Get out of the way!" Jazz shouted. He saw a couple of people nearby and transformed back into a Porsche. "Get in!" Both people climbed in quickly, and Jazz took off at top speed, away from the falling building. Long Haul looked up at the building and then heard a scream. He whipped his head around and saw two children directly in the path of the building. They were so scared they couldn't move.

"Look out!" Long Haul said, running over to them. He jumped, landing on his hands and knees over the children right before the building collapsed on top of him.

"Decepticons, attack!" shouted a voice, almost before the noise of the crashing building had dissipated.


	3. Chapter 2

Several rockets launched through the air, as three planes that looked more like boats  
with flat keels soared overhead. The rockets hit near Preceptor, bringing down a railroad  
overpass and train on top of him.  
Blaster transformed from on top of a different building and began shooting at the  
strange jets.  
"I got three Sweeps flying around." Blaster said, taking aim. He got off three shots  
before another rocket hit the rooftop near him. The roof crumbled under his feet and he fell,  
completely disappearing into the building.  
Jazz dropped off his passengers and transformed into a robot to look around.  
"Sweeps?" Red Alert said. "Where did they come from?"  
"Worry about that later! Right now, find out who's firing those rockets, and stop him!"  
Jazz shouted as he rushed over to the train bridge to help free Preceptor.  
"Are you guys o.k.?" Long Haul asked the two children he was protecting, though his  
voice was strained. Both of the kids nodded their heads.  
"Are you an Autobot?" The boy asked.  
"Yeah." Long Haul answered with a weak smile. "Let's see if we can't get you guys  
back to your parents."  
Long Haul tried to stand up and lift the building, but he wasn't even able to shift his  
weight.  
"Long Haul here." He said into his radio. "The building fell on me, but I'm fine. I just  
need help getting out."  
"No can do, bro." Blaster said. "I'm trying to find my way out of a building myself."  
"I'm digging Preceptor out from under a bridge." Jazz said. "You'll both have to blast  
your way out."  
"That's a negative, Jazz." Long Haul said. "I've got friendlies with me."  
"I'm sorry, Long Haul." Red alert said, disappointment evident in her voice. "I'm trying  
to evacuate the humans. The first responders are still on their way."  
Long Haul sighed.  
"Wheelie?" He said. His voice was rather deadpan.  
"Wheelie answers the call from his friend, Long Haul." Wheelie said. He stopped  
shooting at the Sweeps overhead, transformed into an orange Toyota Prius, and raced off  
towards the trapped Long Haul.  
Underneath the rubble and ruined building, Long Haul would have rolled his eyes, if  
he'd had that ability.  
"Just hurry." Long Haul said.  
Blaster fire erupted from above as the Sweeps passed by again. One blaster hit the  
building, and Long Haul groaned in pain, as his back shifted.  
"That hurt." Long Haul said to no one in particular.  
"Please don't fall." The little girl said, clutching her younger brother in fear.  
"Don't worry, princess." Long Haul said, his voice still strained. "You'll be going home  
in a few minutes."  
Wheelie got to the fallen building where Long Haul was buried, and he began throwing  
pieces of the building to the side.  
"Do not fear, Wheelie's here!" He said happily.  
Another rocket hit near Jazz, and he had to jump away to keep from being trapped  
himself.  
"Sorry Preceptor." Jazz said. "I'll be back when I can."  
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." Preceptor said to Jazz. "Stop those Decepticons."  
Jazz turned and quickly shot another rocked out of the sky before transforming and  
speeding off towards the direction of the oncoming rockets. Before he could get very far, one of  
the Sweeps soared in, transformed and landed on the road in front of him, blocking his path.  
The two other Sweeps flew over again, transformed, and landed behind Wheelie. One  
of them shot at Wheelie, but he dodged the blaster fire. The blaster bolts hit the wrecked  
building, and parts of the building got blown away.  
"As you can see, you help Wheelie." Wheelie said, cartwheeling away. They both took

aim again, but before they could fire, Blaster shot through the building encasing him.  
Blaster braced himself against the back of the building, and pushed off, jumping out of  
the building, and landing in a roll. He came up to a firing position shooting at the Sweeps. His  
shot hit one in the arm. The other one jumped up and spun around, transforming into a jet, and  
flew towards Blaster. The Sweeps' rapid fire guns lighting up the area where Blaster was.  
Blaster would have gotten killed if he hadn't have moved when he did. As it was, he  
wasn't in a position to make any of his return fire shots count.  
Wheelie pulled out his sling shot and loaded an energon pellet into it. He pointed it at  
the Sweep Decepticon who had gotten hit in the arm, and let fly. The energon pellet hit the  
sweep in the shoulder and exploded, knocking him to the ground.  
Red Alert heard sirens and the screeching of tires as the first of the EMTs arrived.  
She breathed a sigh of relief.  
"I'm sorry, but I have to go." She told the rest of the people she hadn't helped yet.  
"There are medics here, and more will be here in a minute."  
The humans complained, but there was nothing else they could do.  
"Jazz, I'm going to free Long Haul." Red Alert said, transforming into an emergency  
vehicle.  
"No." Jazz responded, dodging a swipe from an energon blade from the sweep.  
"Wheelie's got him. You help Preceptor."  
"But Wheelie's also got-"  
"Go!" Jazz ordered, spinning around to trip up the Sweep.  
Red alert spun around and headed towards Preceptor.  
Several more rockets hit and exploded on and around the fallen building. Wheelie had  
to jump out of the way. When he did, the Sweep with the wounded arm grabbed him.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Long Haul survived the multi rocket attack, albeit with another painful groan. Then he  
realized that he was swaying. He forced himself to stop swaying, and gauged the weight of the  
building on top of him.  
"All right, hang on." Long Haul said to the kids. "I think I can force my way out."  
He shifted as best he could, and found that the destruction of the rockets mixed with  
the weights that Wheelie had removed made it seem possible for him to free himself. He shifted  
his weight, and brought one of his feet forward to brace himself before straightening his back  
and lifting with his legs. The pieces of the building that were laying on top of him slid off behind  
and to the side, leaving the large section where the two children were standing free and open.  
Long Haul looked around quickly and then back down to the kids.  
"You stay here, I'll be right back." He said, jumping over the pile of rubble. He rolled  
and kicked out with a foot, taking out the Decepticon's knee from behind. The Decepticon  
shouted, more in surprise than anything else, as he fell, releasing Wheelie as he went.  
"Wheelie, get-" Long Haul started to say, but Ratbat immediately appeared out of  
nowhere and attacked Wheelie, jumping on his head, and knocking him down. "What the hell?"  
Long Haul tried to shoot Ratbat, but he was too close to Wheelie to risk it. So he  
jumped up and ran over to them.  
"Wheelie, move!" Long Haul shouted. Wheelie pushed Ratbat up and off of him, and  
rolled out of the way just as Long Haul's fist slammed down on the back of Ratbat, smashing  
him into the concrete. Almost immediately the Sweep punched Long Haul in the side with an  
energon punch dagger.  
Long Haul grabbed the punch dagger, and launched an elbow into the Decepticon's  
face, knocking him back. Without missing a beat, Long Haul pulled his big pistol and fired  
several shots into center mass of the Decepticon at close range, following it up with two shots to  
the head.  
The dead Sweep fell, and Long Haul groaned in pain as he leaned heavily on a short  
building to support himself while he felt around the punch dagger, and where it was sticking out  
of him.  
Wheelie was about to say something, but another volley of rockets erupted around  
them.  
"Get down!" Long Haul shouted, but one of the rockets took Wheelie in the abdomen,  
blowing one of his legs off entirely, and nearly ripping his torso in half vertically. What was left  
of Wheelie landed near what was left of Ratbat.  
"Wheelie!" Long Haul shouted. The rocket blast had pushed him to the ground as well,  
and with the dagger still protruding from his side, he wasn't able to move very fast. "Dammit!"  
"There!" Preceptor said, pointing a hand that Red Alert had been able to free. "Third  
floor of that parking garage!"  
Both Preceptor and Red Alert fired at the parking garage, and the rocket launching  
Decepticon before he could send off another volley. A large section of the middle floor  
collapsed down and in the dust storm that followed, they saw some movement. The decepticon  
who had been firing rockets transformed and began running towards them.  
"Oh dear." Preceptor said. "I fear we have only angered him."  
Long Haul was about to turn around and put his big pistol to good use again, but  
something caught his eye. A small antenna had emerged from Ratbat's head, and a thin cable  
shot from Ratbat's eye to attach itself to Wheelie's head.  
"I don't think so." Long Haul said, green energon dripping from his mouth. With a  
groan of pain, he pulled the punching dagger from his side and dropped to one knee, chopping  
the cable in half, before shooting Ratbat in the head.  
"Decepticons, fall back!" Came the order, and just like that, the remaining Decepticons  
took off without explanation.  
Red Alert's vehicle raced up to Long Haul, as he tried to stand up, green glowing  
energon flowing from his side. She transformed and grabbed him.  
"Long Haul! Don't try to stand up." She said, helping him to lay down on his back.  
"Are the kids all right?" Long Haul asked, weakly.  
"Your kids?" Red Alert asked, confused. As an answer, Long Haul pointed to the pile  
of twisted rubble that used to be a building. Two small heads peaked up from the ruins. "Oh.

Yes, they are fine."  
Long Haul let out a fading groan, and laid his head back.  
"Autobots report." Jazz said.  
"Blaster, still blastin'."  
"Preceptor here. I am free from the train bridge now."  
"This is Red Alert. Wheelie is gone, and Long Haul is critical. I have to get him back to  
the infirmary."  
"Long Haul is our muscle." Blaster said. "What do we do when the only one strong  
enough to carry us all goes down?"  
"We call the Sparklings." Jazz said, watching several black SUV's pull up and people  
in black suits get out. "Preceptor, when they get here, have them help you search for survivors,  
and then bring Wheelie's body back to the base. Blaster, you help Red Alert with Long Haul.  
Don't let the sparklings know that Long Haul is injured; not yet anyway. I'm going to get some  
answers."

A few minutes later, a late model White Ford GT, a black and purple Jeep Cherokee, a  
pink and black Polaris Slingshot, and a blue Ducati motorbike rolled up to Preceptor and  
transformed.  
"Ah, Sparklings. There you are." Preceptor said.  
"I'm not a sparkling." The Autobot who was a Ford GT said. "I'm 18. Human's are  
adults at 18."  
"What happened?" The female Autobot who was a jeep asked, looking around at the  
destruction.  
"Decepticons attacked after a suicide bomber also attacked." Preceptor said. "We lost  
one of ours, I'm sad to say, and we need help picking up our fallen comrade, as well as the two  
deceptcons who are dead. And we also need to search for surviving humans."  
"Who was it? The autobot that died?" The female autobot who was a slingshot asked.  
"It was Wheelie." Precepter said, sadly. "Now I know you weren't close to him, but he  
was one of ours."  
"Great. Clean up work. Yay." The Autobot GT said. By the tone of his voice, it was  
obvious that he didn't want to do it.  
"Clean up work is very important." Preceptor said.  
"Then why are we the only ones doing it?"  
"Jazz is talking with the authorities." Preceptor said. "Really, there's not much else to  
do after the Decepticons attack. They are a rather messy bunch."  
"Oh yeah?" The GT asked. "Where's blaster? Where's Red Alert? Where's-"  
The GT's casual glance around suddenly got more intense.  
"Hey, why is there energon fluid all over the place here?" The Jeep Autobot asked.  
"Wheelie's body is over there."  
"Energon fluid?" The Slingshot, also a female, asked.  
"Now, Ember, Amethyst, Gear Jammer, we have important work to do." Preceptor  
began.  
"Where is he?" The GT asked.  
"Gear Jammer, please-"  
"Where. Is. He?" Gear Jammer, the GT demanded.  
Preceptor sighed and looked down at the ground.  
"Blaster and Red Alert took him to the Infirmary." Preceptor said.  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Gear Jammer shouted. He transformed into his car mode  
and took off at top speed.  
"Please, Sparklings." Preceptor said, moving to stand in front of the other three. "He's  
in good hands. It's best if you just let Red Alert..."  
As he was talking Ember and Amethyst transformed into their cars and sped away.  
The last one, the blue Ducati followed them.  
"And you're just going to ignore me." Preceptor said, sadly watching them leave. He  
sighed. "I was never good with Sparklings."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
Gear Jammer sped into the Autobot base. The roaring of his engine could be heard  
echoing off the walls, so it didn't surprise Red Alert or Blaster when he fishtailed through the  
door to the infirmary and transformed right next to them.  
Blaster and Red Alert were struggling to lift Long Haul onto one of the tables.  
"Good, you're here." Blaster said, without missing a beat. "Help us."  
Gear Jammer ran over to grab Long Haul's shoulder.  
"All right, on three." Red Alert said. "One. Two. Three!"  
The three of them lifted the large, Green Autobot onto a table and Red alert began  
attaching monitoring probes to Long Haul's head and chest. Then she rolled what looked like a  
patient's tray table over Long Haul's abdomen. Several mechanical arms branched out of the  
table and began working on Long Haul.  
"How did this happen?" Gear Jammer asked, looking at the slowing flow of energon  
fluid.  
"One of the Sweeps got him while he was trying to help Wheelie." Blaster said. As he  
spoke, the other three Sparklings drove in. Sophia was with them, riding in the Slingshot.  
Sophia hopped out, and went to stand next to Gear jammer. The Sparklings all  
transformed and ran up next to Long Haul. Red Alert saw them and tried a reassuring smile.  
"Don't worry Sparklings," She said. "I'll have him back, good as new, in no time."  
Gear Jammer looked down at Sophia, her hand was resting on his leg. He spun  
around, transformed, and drove away.  
"I'll go talk to him." Blaster said, and left.  
"When will he wake up?" Amethyst, the pink and black slingshot asked, as she skated  
closer. Her feet were more like wheels, so she pretty much skated everywhere she went.  
"That's tough to say," Red Alert said. "But I assure you he will. And when he does, I  
will be sure to contact you."  
"Yeah. Girls, we should let her do her job. Come on." Sophia said. When she spoke,  
Red Alert glanced her way, and then turned to study something the monitor. "Jakey-"  
"I'm Chase." The short blue autobot objected.  
"Chase, I want you to come home with me." Sophia continued. "Girls, I think Preceptor  
needs help."  
"But-" Ember began protesting.  
"There's nothing you can do here except get in Red Alert's way." Sophia said. "I'm  
sorry, but that's the truth. You should go help Preceptor. If for no other reason that it will  
distract you so that you're not constantly thinking about this."  
Long Haul twitched on the table. His eyes flashed, and his head swiveled from one  
side to the other.  
"What's happening?" Amethyst asked.  
"I don't know." Red Alert said with uncertainty, glancing at him, but continuing to study  
the monitor.  
"Looks like he's dreaming." Sophia said matter-of-factly. "See that? He's dreaming,  
he'll be fine. Now, Ja- uh, Chase, please transform, and take me home."  
The blue autobot dove towards the ground and transformed into a motorbike. Sophia  
pulled a helmet off of the back of Chase and put it on.  
"Good bye, girls." She said and climbed on the back of Chase and they left.  
"Bye mom." Ember and Amethyst echoed.  
Red Alert watched her leave and smiled again at the two remaining sparklings.  
"You really should do what she said." Red Alert said to them. "Preceptor does need  
your help. And nothing good is going to come of you standing around here."  
"All right." Ember said.  
"Okay." Amethyst said, sadly.  
"Bye." They both said to the unconscious Long Haul before transforming and leaving.


	6. Chapter 5

Long Haul twitched again, and his head swiveled again.

"You are dreaming, aren't you?" She said to him. She watched him for a minute before turning to her computer. She typed something on the keyboard, and a separate monitor lit up. The image was grainy and it was incomplete, but Long Haul's dream was playing out for Red Alert to see.

The image was of 4 human children laughing and having fun at a park of some kind. At one point, a 4 year old boy was gathered up in arms that seemed to come from either side of the camera.

"I love you, Daddy." The little boy said, and then wiggled his way out of the arms and ran off.

"You're not dreaming." Red Alert said. "You're remembering."

Suddenly, there was an explosion, and enormous robots crashed through the trees and into buildings, destroying everything in their path.

"Paul, grab Jake! Leena, Phoebe, run!" A deep human voice shouted from behind the camera. At the same time, Long Haul's mouth moved. "Come quickly! Back to Daddy's truck!"

The scene shifted to the point of view looking around rapidly. At one point the camera looked down at four children ranging in age from 16 to 4, huddling scared near him. Then the view moved quickly to watch an enormous robot stomp through a parking lot by them. When the robot was past them, the point of view ushered his four children into a large green 18 wheeler.

"Whoa." Red Alert said. "That decepticon was huge. I never realized how scary we must be to the humans."

"Nooooo!" The point of view shouted, bringing Red Alert's attention back to the dream. The inside of the truck was an absolute mess. Something had happened, something bad. There was blood everywhere, and a quick look around revealed that all of the children were badly injured. The point of view looked down to see his entire left arm cut off above the elbow, and a pole sticking through his abdomen.

"You!" The voice shouted, at the same time Long Haul's body twitched. The point of view was fixed on one decepticon.

"Is that Ramjet?" Red Alert said, trying to identify the decepticon.

"You…will never…" The point of view was saying as the arm began driving the 18 wheeler. He shifted, which was awkward with only one hand to drive, but he did it. "..hurt ANYONE…AGAIN!"

The 18 wheeler picked up speed. The point of view kept a steady eye on the decepticon, only looking around once in a while to keep his bearings and make sure nothing was in his way. The point of view glanced down at the speedometer. It read '70' miles per hour.

The Point of view looked back up at the decepticon, now so close, it was impossible to miss. The voice shouted a war cry as he stomped his foot down on the accelerator.

The 18 wheeler hit a curb which caused it to jump a little, giving it height enough to slam into the decepticon at over 70 miles per hour, and smash it between the truck and a building.

The screen went blank for a minute, but then a piece of metal was moved out of the way to reveal an enormous Preceptor staring back at Red Alert.

"Fear not, sir, we are here to help." Preceptor said.

"Forget about me." The voice said, weakly. "Help my kids! You gotta save my kids."

Preceptor seemed to look in at the inside of the cab and nod his head slowly.

"Sir, just relax, we'll have you out of there in no time." Preceptor said.

"No, you're not listening to me!" The voice said. As he talked, he began choking back tears. "My kids; my children are my world. They are the only thing I've done right in this life. You gotta help them. There's gotta be SOMETHING you can do. Anything; ANYTHING!"

Preceptor looked to his left and then his right before looking back down at the point of view.

"Anything, man. Please. Save my kids." The voice pleaded.

"There…might be something." Preceptor said. "It's risky, and success is not guaranteed."

"I don't care, man." The voice said. The point of view began blurring, as if obscured by water. "Help them. Please."

"It is a one-time shot in the dark, that, if successful, is irreversible." Preceptor said.

"They deserve a chance." The voice said, though it was fading. "They deserve so much better than me. Please, give them a chance. Tell them I love them."

The screen went blank again, and this time before it could fade back in, Long Haul groaned, and tried to sit up.

Quickly Red Alert hit a button to turn the screen off and jumped over to Long Haul's side.

"No, don't try to move." She said, grabbing his hand and gently pushing him back down. "The Medibots are at work, fixing you up."

"Where…are my kids?" He asked.

"The sparklings were here, but Gear Jammer took off. Blaster went after him. Ember and Amethyst went back to help Preceptor clean up, and Chase is with Sophia." Red Alert said still holding his hand.

Long Haul nodded in thanks, and laid his head back on the table.

"Something was very wrong about that attack." Long Haul said.

"Tell me about it." Red Alert said. "The decepticons used a suicide bomber to cover them for a surprise attack, and then we lost Wheelie."

"How did they know about the suicide bomber, and why did we only lose Wheelie?" Long haul asked.

"I don't know, but you need to rest." She said. "I'm sure Jazz is figuring out everything."

"Is Jazz back yet?" Long Haul asked.

"No. But you need to rest. You lost a lot of energon fluid."

"I will." Long Haul said. "But will you tell me when he's back?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."


End file.
